You may have noticed that things have been a bit slow lately on Custom Toy Lab. I would like to apologise for this but I have been extremely busy moving offices and redesigning other websites.

However the good news is that I will be changing and improving CTL in the next few weeks. You may be wondering why I am changing it so soon. The answer to that is that I feel that the current site is becoming very tedious and the current layout has no potential to expand.

The new site will be a lot more fun for me, for all artists and for readers. Here are a few ideas I have for the new site and I hope all artists and readers can leave some suggestions in the comments section;

- Interviews, more tutorials and other custom toy related features
- Artists will be able to write a post for their toy in any format they like. No more sticking to the same old template
- New and improved way of viewing images (hint. Lightbox)
- 3 Column navigation making the site easier to browse and use
- Artists will be able to design a banner for the site
- A monthly competition where you can win custom vinyl toys, plush toys, blank DIY toys and more
- A Forum??? Only if this is what artists want

In the meantime if you want to carry on viewing some great custom toys visit the following sites

Kidrobot forum
Vinyl Abuse forum
Vinyl toy forum
CTL @ Flickr

Artist Name: Lou Pimentel
Artist Website: www.lou-pimentel.com
Artist location: Brooklyn, NY, USA
Toy Name: Lo life
Toy Story: This piece is paying homage to all the crazy old school ” Lo-Lifes”. I’m not sure how many of you are familiar with this term. I know some older NYC peeps know about this. Basically a Lo-lifers are people that wear nothing but POLO
clothing; LO = short for polo. I was pretty big out here in NY in the early 90′s. 92-93 are def. Ralph Lauren’s best years, man did he have some fresh designs.

I use to be a part of this lil circle, but as I got older I had new priorities, and could no longer afford to spend insane amount of money on gear. I still have a lot of my old stuff So this is a skinnier older version of ME I guess lol
Artist available for custom toy commission? YES – Contact artist through website

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Artist Name: Israel Chavira
Artist website: www.chaviraestudio.com
Artist Location: Guadalajara Mexico
Toy name: Pambol
Toy Story: A really football soccer fan, he doesn´t have a favorite team but loves the hole game and Ronaldino magic!
Toy avaliable for sale: No
Artist available for custom toy commision? Yes – Contact artist through website

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Artist Name: D. Emory Allen
Artist Website: ocularinvasion.com
Artist location: Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Toy Name: Maxwell Fuzzton
Toy Type: Handmade Plush
Toy Story: Maxwell is a confused little yeti. He feels strong emotion, but he cannot decide for himself how he is feeling. Maxwell’s mouth is attached by velcro so that you can decide for him if he’s happy or sad.
Toy Available for sale: No
Artist available for custom toy commission? YES – Contact artist through website

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Artist Info: Squid(boy) is Shan Michael Evans.
Artist Website: tragicmagichead.blogspot.com
Artist location: Las Vegas U.S.A.
Toy Name: The Psychonaut Bodhisava Bot.
Toy Type: Broken Heart Robot.
Toy Story: In reference to heaven, the phrase appears here and there from time to time in my works… taken from a little book called “Easy Journey to Other Planets” by A.C.Bhaktivedanta.
Available for sale: No.
Artist available for commission? Yes, always. Contact artist through website

Artist Name: Miss Peal
Artist Website: octoplush.vox.com
Artist location: Helsinki Finland
Toy Name: BOUE
Toy Type: plush
Toy Available for sale: Not yet
Artist available for custom toy commission? YES – Contact artist through website

Artist Name: Jason Kochis
Artist Website: www.jasonkochis.com
Artist location: Atlanta, GA, U.S.A.
Toy Name: Geddy
Toy Type: Bear Qee
Toy Story: Stop the Wars!
Toy Available for sale: Yes – Contact artist through website
Artist available for custom toy commission? Yes – Contact artist through website

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Artist Name: Doktor A.
Artist Website: www.spookypop.com
Artist location : The Pennine Mountains, England
Toy Name: “Professor Whistlecraft’s astounding Incendiary Automaton”
Toy Type: Nade (with ex-army ammunition case)
Toy Available for sale: No
Artist available for custom toy commission? Not currently.

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